The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission,OSSIEC and the Inter-Party Advisory Council of all political parties has agreed on peaceful electoral process ahead of the forthcoming Local Government Election.
At a meeting held at the OSSIEC headquarters in Osogbo, on Tuesday, the parties and election umpire agreed to work together towards a free, faur abd credible election.
The meeting had in attendance all political parties in the State.
While speaking with the newsmen, the Chairman of OSSIEC, Barr. Hassim Abioye said the meeting with the party leaders was necessary in order to have a credible, peaceful election.
“It has been tagged as interactive session, to interact with leaders of political parties in the State.
“For the first time, in the history of this commission, all the registered political parties that are participating in the election, are all present.
Citing the incidence at Rivers State, the chairman said that was the reason for the meeting was to to be in one accord and unity, so there won’t be any form of violence before, during and after the election.
” When we started, there was turbulence, you can see that we have been able to navigate the turbulent waters, and that’s why despite the short notice of this meeting , 16 political parties are in attendance, and the two absent sent in thier apologies.
“And we all have agreed on points that is stated in the communique.”
Subsequently, the chairman appealed to the Federal Government not to withhold the monthly allocations schedule to the state, as the state now complies with the regulations of the Supreme Court.
“Given the history of this commission,that the supreme court nullified the election conducted in 2010 on account of inadequate notice, the court also nullified the election again in 2022, on account of defective notice.
The Osun State commission law provides for 360 days notice of election, the same as the electoral act 2022, which notice we had given since February 2024, ever before the case at the supreme court was concieved.
So, we will not because of the agitations postpone the date of the election, so the hammer of the court will not fall on this commission.
We are already a compliant state,we have complied with the law by commencing the process of the local government election, ever before the decision of the supreme court regarding local government autonomy.
While speaking on the readiness of the political parties to support the commission, the Osun IPAC Chairman, Mr Victor Akande said, ” All political parties agreed that OSSIEC has convinced us that it would be transparent and conduct a credible, free, and fair election in 2025.
“We are giving the commission our vote of confidence today. We promise to give all the support the commission will need so that the election will be good enough to be a reference point all over Nigeria. We have confidence in OSSIEC and we give it the hand of fellowship.
“We trust the commission to conduct a free and fair election. There will be a peaceful campaign and we political parties have all agreed to relate it to our members to maintain peace during the campaign. We are in support of OSSIEC’s campaign against cyber crime, drug abuse, and cultism”.
” All parties should let the OSSIEC know their campaign timetable and also to take permission from all security agencies to conduct Thier campaign”, he concluded.
